Early this morning, during a press conference in Kabul with
Afghan President Karzai, President Bush attempted to paper over
his previous declarations of victory over the now-resurgent Taliban.
Bush claimed emphatically, “I never said the Taliban was
eliminated.” Watch it:
(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
In fact, Bush used the word “eliminated” to describe
the state of the Taliban on several occasions:
September 2002: “The Taliban’s ability to brutalize
the Afghan people and to harbor and support terrorists has been
virtually eliminated.”
April 2002: “With the Taliban eliminated and al-Qaida
badly damaged, we have moved into the second stage of our war
on terror.”
At other times, Bush prematurely declared victory using similar
language:
September 2004: “And as a result of the United States
military, Taliban no longer is in existence. And the people
of Afghanistan are now free.”
December 2004: “In Afghanistan, America and our allies,
with a historically small force and a brilliant strategy, defeated
the Taliban in just a few short weeks.”
October 2005: “Over the years these extremists have used
a litany of excuses for violence — the Israeli presence
on the West Bank, or the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia,
or the defeat of the Taliban, or the Crusades of a thousand
years ago.”
While coalition forces made significant early progress against
the Taliban, President Bush allowed the situation to deteriorate
after deciding to invade Iraq in 2003. Since the U.S. invasion
of Iraq, troops and resources have been diverted from Afghanistan.
Consequently, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated dramatically
in recent years. Currently, the Taliban has a “permanent
presence” in 75 percent of the country and exercises control
over the country’s “political and military dynamic.”
Likewise, the still-classified Afghanistan NIE reportedly paints
a “grim” picture of the country. While Bush deserves
credit for trying to bring his current rhetoric more in line with
reality, he isn’t allowed to pretend that his past rhetoric
wasn’t false.
